


Innocent and Proven Guilty

by raccoonLauncher



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Light Is Not Kira, Detective Light, Gen, Misa will not be appearing in this fic, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 09:12:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12105462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raccoonLauncher/pseuds/raccoonLauncher
Summary: Light Yagami was bored until the killings started. He had helped the police with various cases before, but Kira was the most elusive and powerful criminal of all time, and he was determined to catch them. Struggling with a lack of information and being the only suspect L would consider, Light would eventually find it to be the most dangerous endeavor of his life, and that he is the only person capable of uncovering Kira's identity.





	1. Prologue

Light lazily turned on the television. He was bored, and the news wouldn't fix that, but it would at least give him something to think about, if he was lucky. The screen showed a building of some sort, with the bottom of the screen reading "Shinjuku Killer: Children Among 8 Hostages." He had tuned in partway through the report, but listened to what remained.

"...people yesterday in Shinjuku is still barricaded inside this nursery school, with eight hostages, including little children."

_There really are some horrible people in the world... I can't do very much to stop them as I am, but the number of monsters in human form who exist is what makes me want to be a detective._

He quit musing to hear more about the criminal.

"The Metropolitan Police have determined the man's identity. He is Kurou Otoharada, 42 years old and unemployed. Two days ago..."

The news repeated the same information it had already given several times. Light had heard about the killer the previous day, and tuned out the repetition, thinking about how when there is very little to actually say about a dramatic situation, it was milked for every rephrasing it could get on television. He sighed and reached for the remote again to change the channel, when the announcer stopped in the middle of a sentence.

"What's this... The hostages are coming out!"

Indeed, several figures could be seen coming out of the building, looking relieved.

"They seem to be all right. And now the police are going in! Will they be able to arrest Otoharada!?"

_Adding just that extra bit of suspense to keep people interested. As if anyone would lose interest with this development._

"They're coming back out! But no sign of Otoharada just yet... What exactly is going on?"

The police were coming out of the building, and one talked briefly with a reporter.

"...This just in! The captor is inside the nursery school, and he is dead!"

This took Light by surprise. He wasn't bored in the slightest, now.

_You win this time, sensationalism._

"The police are emphasizing that they did not shoot him... The hostages are apparently saying he just collapsed. It's a... heart attack?"

_A criminal suddenly collapsing in the middle of a hostage situation... it's strange. I guess it's justice that someone like that would die before he could hurt anyone else._

He quickly lost interest, the news alternating between recapping the man's sudden death and covering more mundane matters.

Unbeknownst to Light, this would be the beginning of the end of his boredom, and the start of the greatest challenge he would ever face.

* * *

Over the next few days, more and more criminals died suddenly of heart attacks. Desperate to learn more, Light went on the internet to see if there were any theories on how it was possible. What he found were...

_Cult websites? People are saying some kind of divine being is killing criminals, and worshipping it? If this "Kira" is killing people, doesn't that just make them a criminal, whether their victims are criminals or not?_

He considered this for a moment.

_I really did think that murderer's death was justice, but... are people really taking it this far? Treating a killer as a god to be bowed to? Anyone would say that killing evil people is wrong, if you asked them. I know people often don't believe that on the inside, but is this truly how people feel?_

He turned back to the news. There had been another death, and he didn't even bother to listen closely. As interesting as it was, and as infuriating as is was not to know anything, only so many criminals could die before it became old news. Before he would get used to it, whether it was truly the hand of justice or just some sick mass murderer with a taste for irony.

The ordinary news suddenly cut out, to be replaced with a tall man with black hair and a large nameplate in front of him, reading "Lind. L. Tailor."

"We are interrupting this program to bring you a live, globally televised broadcast from Interpol," announced a voiceover. The man started speaking in English, and the voiceover translated what he said into Japanese.

"I am Lind. L. Tailor, more commonly known as "L;" the sole person able to mobilize police in every country worldwide."

_This guy is clearly going after Kira. I was wondering when the police would make a move against them, but this is truly massive._

"Criminals have been the target of a killing spree that has turned into the biggest mass murder case in history. This monstrous crime must be stopped at all costs. "Kira," as the perpetrator is commonly known, will be caught. I guarantee it."

_It's really kind of stupid, though, announcing a campaign against someone who can apparently kill anyone with a heart attack. Wouldn't it be better to do it in secret?_

"Kira. I think I've got a pretty good idea of why you're doing this. But what you are doing... is  **evil.** "

Lind. L. Tailor paused for dramatic effect. Light was certain everyone in the world was silent, stunned by this man's announcement. Kira must be fuming in rage.

But it didn't make sense.

Ten seconds passed, and while part of Light's brain was still awestruck by the bold announcement, another part of him was furiously thinking.

_L, what are you trying to accomplish?_

Twenty seconds passed.

_You're putting your life in danger, and alerting Kira to the search at the same time. You have nothing to gain from this announcement. So, why?_

Thirty seconds passed, and the man began to speak again. "Police worldwide have launched a coordin... co-"

Lind. L. Tailor clutched his chest, making a choking noise. His head fell onto his desk, and for a ghastly instant that felt like an eternity, he was still. Two men wearing suits came to pick up his body, and dragged him offscreen. There was another moment of silence.

**I don't believe it.**

A new voice came in from nowhere, distorted and intimidating.

**So my hunch was right. Kira, you can really kill people without any direct contact.**

Light was stunned. For once in his life, he didn't know what to think of this new development.

**Kira. You just killed Lind. L. Tailor, on TV... but he was not a detective. He was a condemned criminal, scheduled to die at this hour. His arrest, conviction, and crime were unreported and scrubbed from the internet, so that not even you would have a way to know about him.**

_**But I, L, do in fact exist.** _

__With this announcement, a large, gothic **L** filled the screen, taking the place of the empty chair.

_...Now it makes sense. Of course you wouldn't reveal yourself to the world without anything to gain. But aren't you still in danger, unless you know about some limitation to Kira's power? Lind. L. Tailor was kept secret, but couldn't someone with the power to kill like that find you just as easily, now that you've announced yourself?_

**So come on! Kill me if you can!**

Light's eyes felt like they were bulging out of his head. This was it. If Kira was the all-powerful entity the cult websites made them out as, L was as good as dead. But if they weren't...

**What are you waiting for? Go ahead! Come on! Kill me! Can't you, Kira? Can't you kill anyone you want? I'm still here!**

**...Evidently, you aren't able to kill me!**

**This means there are people you can't kill. And in return for that valuable clue, I'll even provide some information to you!**

_This... This is insane! L just risked his life, but he's proven that Kira is limited! That'll destroy the notions the cult websites have about them, and means that just maybe, Kira can be caught!_

**Although it was announced that this would be a global broadcast, it was, in fact, only shown in the Kanto region of Japan! This means that you are in this region, as otherwise you would not have seen the broadcast, and Tailor would have survived each region in turn until we found your location.**

_L is brilliant! This means that Kira can be caught! We even know where they are!_

**I knew you were in Japan because of the murder of one Kurou Otoharada, who was not only the first criminal to recently have died of a heart attack, but who was also less notorious than the others among the earliest victims. Since you were in Japan, it followed to broadcast this in each region from most to least populous, and I found you easily.**

**And Kira... I am very curious as to how you commit your murders. That, however... can wait until after I catch you!**

**Because I will find you, and have you executed, if it is the last thing I do!**

**Kira, I am...**

**JUSTICE!**

The broadcast cut out.

_It's L vs. Kira, then... L has learned a lot, but can he really figure out the identity of someone from nothing except the deaths of criminals?_

_This case... should be very interesting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There isn't much divergence from canon yet other than Light not being Kira, but more is still to come. The details of how this AU diverges are complicated, but it will get farther and farther away from the original anime and manga as time goes on.


	2. Time of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After L's announcement, Kira news quiets down, and Light dredges up all the information he can find from the killings.

For anyone else, Kira would be old news. Many of the cult websites were dying down after Kira was proven to be fallible, and newscasters were no longer surprised, taking it almost as a given that criminals would die shortly after they were reported.

Light was not anyone else. Not only was Kira the most interesting thing to happen in his life, but the case appealed strongly to Light personally, as he wanted to be a detective, and Kira was not only a criminal, but one who killed criminals. They were the ultimate meta-criminal, and there was both an abundance of evidence and no evidence at all. It was the dream of a detective looking for a challenge, and although Light was years away from truly becoming an official detective, he had aided his father, the chief of police, with several cases before, and none of the obstacles that could come up in the future posed any challenge to Light's brilliance.

Light dreamed of becoming the greatest detective in the world, and he, for one, had no faith that L was certain to catch Kira. The mysterious investigator, although now legendary, had still been fairly obscure before Kira popped up, and any number of factors could lead to a string of successes catching the eyes of the police forces Interpol was comprised of.

It was the opportunity of a lifetime to race a world-famous detective to catch an untraceable killer who was even in the same region as Light, and no challenge was too great for him to take it on with confidence.

Thus, Light Yagami spent all of his free time watching the news and researching Kira online. The first thing he noticed was Kira's schedule. He had expected to miss the majority of the murders due to school, but on weekdays, Kira killed almost no one from 2 A.M. to 4 P.M., the same approximate hours Light was free. Then, he saw that almost every criminal who he saw die on the news, who had been reported on the same channel, was reported between a minute and two minutes earlier than their death. No criminals died immediately after they were reported, and the rare criminals who died later than a few minutes after being reported did so at least half a day later.

_Kira is getting many of his victims from the news. Furthermore, they have a similar schedule to myself, suggesting that they are either a student, a teacher, or someone with a night or early morning job, and cannot kill criminals as often at work or school. Either their method of killing takes time, or they have to think for a while to decide whether to kill someone. Except that can't be the case, because even when a criminal has murdered someone in cold blood and is clearly despicable, there is still a delay, so they have to have a method which is not instantaneous._

A search on the internet for notorious criminals in prison yielded a list of names which would almost always be included in a subsequent search for criminals Kira had killed, and the ones who were not still died a few days later. Furthermore, although Kira had only killed the worst and most brutal criminals at first, their standards had dropped as more people died, and not only did less noteworthy criminals die of heart attacks, but Kira struck far more frequently as time went on, as well.

_So Kira is using every method they can to find criminals, and as their standards drop, they are able to find more criminals more and more easily, as "ordinary" felons are more common than infamous serial criminals and crime lords, and thus easier to find._

_What I've learned so far is that not only is Kira limited to killing people they know about, but that they have an ordinary life like anyone else, as well as a slightly abnormal schedule, and that they're changing their approach as they go, meaning that deciding to kill criminals was as far as they got when planning this. Kira is a flawed, unprepared human being, and can definitely be caught. I will catch them!_

* * *

A few days after the broadcast, at dinner, Light was eating dinner with his family.

"How are you doing in school, Light?"

Light's father, Soichiro Yagami, looked worn out, but was as concerned about his children as always.

"Same as usual."

_Boring as usual. I'm glad Kira came along. Not that I should say that, ever, because it would give people the wrong idea._

"Yep, top of the class as usual! You can count on Light!" Light's little sister, Sayu, beamed at him and their father, and their mother smiled proudly.

Soichiro looked at Sayu. "And what about you?"

The wide grin became sheepish. "Uh... same as usual for me, too."

Light smiled briefly.

_At least you seem to be always enjoying yourself. Being the best is a bit of a drag. Not that that's something I should say out loud, either._

His father, his regular check on the well-being of his family complete, sagged a bit more, and silently ate his food.

"You seem tired, Dad."

_I'm one to talk, staying up every night to research Kira, but I can handle it._

"The case I'm working on is... difficult, to say the least. It's almost a wild goose chase."

_Hang on, don't tell me..._

"But we do have a bit of a lead... the head of our investigation says that, judging from the time of death, the killer is probably a student."

_The head... Dad is the chief, so someone would have to come in from another area to outrank him, meaning it's a major case. And student... that lines up with Kira's schedule. Together with the fact that one of the most successful policemen I know of saying that it's almost a wild goose chase, he's definitely on the Kira case!_

_However, if L has determined that Kira is a student, and has nothing else, that means I'm ahead of him. Those times don't apply specifically to students-a teacher, or a night guard, or someone else who either works early or sleeps during the day could have the same schedule. They have no clue as to Kira's method, and L has specifically voiced his disinterest in that angle altogether. I have more information than them, and what they do have is far more limited._

His mother spoke up. "I don't think this is much of a topic for the dinner table."

"I don't see why not. Light has given me insight on cases before."

_I don't think so. From what you have right now, it seems working with L would only drag me down. If you had anything new, I would happily share, but your team has nothing to offer me this time. I'm going to beat L and catch Kira on my own!_

"I'm done."

Light got up, and walked to his room.

"Oh, and I'll be cleaning up my room myself, so you don't have to come inside."

Before he closed the door, he overheard Sayu cheerfully observing,"You know, Light's actually starting to act like a real teenager."

Light smiled.  _No. I have a purpose._

* * *

The next day, after school, the information Light received upon a cursory search for any stray daytime Kira killings stunned him to the core.

_One every hour... starting at midnight, yesterday, and there have been sixteen more since then... What does this even mean? Does Kira have a day off, or... but that can't be it, because they were active at the normal times yesterday, and they would have had to have stayed up for a full 24 hours, even if they work at night and sleep during the day. This new information could prove that that's the case, but it doesn't make any sense! Why would Kira do it every hour? This new pattern has no logic to it!_

Criminals continued to die every single hour, and the next day, it continued until midnight, and 1:00 in the morning after, the murders finally stopped.

_49 deaths, one every hour. The first killing two... well, technically, since it's after midnight, three days ago at 4:13 was 56 hours before the last killing, one hour ago, meaning Kira had to stay awake for two days and 8 hours straight, and stay on a rigid schedule, not to mention the fact that since these have been weekdays, they had to make arrangements to skip two days of work or school, or if they have a night job, three days of work, since no one can be effective with two days of sleep deprivation._

_There's something else going on here. Are they working with someone with a different schedule, who they tag-teamed with to keep this up? But that can't be right, because there's still no logic behind what they just did. They might have realized that their schedule is consistent, but surely they can't expect two days of regular killings to throw off someone investigating them. Why would they do this? What could possibly lead a mass murderer to drastically change their schedule, with no apparent cue?_

The next afternoon, Light practically ran to his room.

_What Kira does today... it determines the meaning of their recent oddness._

Nothing appeared to change. Criminals started dying again at 4:00, but Light noticed that first, it was at a slower rate than before the 49-hour spree, and second, there was no longer a consistent time between the news reporting a criminal and that criminal's death. The intervals ranged from forty minutes to five hours, and over the next two days, the schedule disappeared. Criminals died between a half an hour and a day after they were reported, and Light could only see the pattern because he wrote down the time each criminal appeared on the news, and the time each one died.

There was only one conclusion to come to.

_Kira has randomized the time of death for their victims. Before, there was a definite pattern-one minute after a criminal was reported, or a day or so later, they would die. Now, there is no pattern. Kira can control how long it will be before a criminal dies, because their previous schedule proves that whatever lets them kill does not let them skip sleep, and if there were now two people or more killing, then there would still be a consistent amount of time between reports and deaths._

_Thus, Kira caught on to the fact that they were on a specific schedule. Then, they changed it in order to prevent... wait, that's not right._

_The one-per-hour killings still make no sense. It's almost as though..._

_Kira... they want the fact that they control the time of death to be known?_

_That makes sense. They want L to think that they have the power to control the time of death, and thus discount the schedule they used to use as a lie. If L concludes that Kira wants them to think the schedule was a lie, and they will, then they would also realize that Kira would expect them to realize that, and it would continue infinitely, meaning that L cannot learn whether Kira's schedule was real or not._

_I, of course, know something that L might not-the delays. Kira almost certainly has a minimum delay before death can occur, and when they were on their schedule, those delays were in place. Now that time of death has been randomized, there is no such pattern, meaning that Kira's schedule is very real._

_However, I have learned something much more important than this new control Kira has over deaths. I now know that Kira is both very intelligent and is working directly against L's attempts to catch them. Thus, if I want to catch Kira, I will also have to understand their enemy, who is guiding their strategy._

_I have to investigate L._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While re-reading the manga to look up many of the events and refresh my memory, I realized that several of L's logical leaps go farther than the information he has, and that he came to certain conclusions because the author already knew who Kira was. Also, it's surprising how Light and L's methods differ; L collects information from people who gather it for him, at least at first, and Light goes and gets information himself, meaning that he would, in fact, stare at the news and the internet all day for information (it's not like he has anything more interesting to do). Also, I'm finding that Light as a detective is much more capable than Light as a criminal, because as Kira in the original, he also never realized that there was a notable pattern of a delay before each criminal died. He charged in and tried to confront L as directly as he could without getting caught instead of trying to steer suspicion away from himself, and I see him (clearly, since I'm having him do this) taking the same direct approach as a detective, but this approach is just far more suited to the one trying to catch a criminal than to the one trying to not be caught. Detective Light has all the obscurity he needs simply by not being L, leaving him able to get every scrap of data available without very much risk, for now. It's funny how much better you get to know a character by writing them, even after reading the manga, watching the anime, and reading lots of other fanfics.


	3. Detective vs. Detective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Light investigates L, and learns that L is looking into him as well.

The first place to look for something on L was online. He doubted that any case records would come up, but even anecdotes and rumors would be helpful. He filtered out any results from after the broadcast, because there were all sorts of conspiracy theories to the effect that both L and Kira were a ruse by the police to cover up murdering criminals, or that L was Kira, or that L and Kira were forgotten alien deities from the future...

_How people could believe these things... It's probably more likely that all those heart attacks were chance than that some of these theories are true._

When it came to solid facts, there was almost nothing on L. There were a few rumors about the L.A. Serial Locked Room Killings, or "BB killings" that they supposedly investigated, but officially, the BB case was the jurisdiction of one Naomi Misora in the FBI.

_Even if I got a chance to talk to her, if I asked her about L, then she would think I'm Kira._

Everything else led to a similar dead end. L never showed their face, or revealed their name, or allowed their presence to be strong enough to pin down.

_I'll admit, they're the perfect detective for the Kira case, at least on paper. I'm certain that they're relatively good, too, but I'm sure they're depending on police reports to learn about Kira, and ignoring the angle of how Kira finds or kills their victims, because they- L, I mean, wouldn't have been watching the news to learn that that's where they, Kira, get criminals to kill._

_It's really getting kind of annoying to think about both L and Kira without knowing either's gender._

* * *

Over the next few days, Light was barely able to get any new info on Kira, and L remained as enigmatic as ever.

_On weekdays, Kira has stopped killing only criminals who appear on the news from 4 P.M. to 2 A.M. and begun killing criminals with no regard to when they appear. This could mean that they no longer have a schedule, but it would be too easy to record the news, so it probably means nothing, because recording the news is how I even found out they appeared during the day at all. Still, though, something's bothering me._

He shrugged, and stood up, stretching. He noticed that he was low on potato chips, and so he grabbed his wallet and keys, waved to his family, and left to walk to the store. It was Saturday, so he wouldn't be getting any clues to Kira's schedule anyway.

_Although, if I follow that train of thought, it seems unlikely that Kira has a night job, because the killings stopped at night the one weekend before Kira hid their schedule, and were spread throughout the day, meaning Kira slept during the night, and their whole day was free. If they have a night job, that means they would most likely still sleep during the day out of habit. That means Kira is a student, a teacher, or someone who just gets up early in the morning for their job, for whatever reason, and doesn't stay late._

Wrapped up in thought, he arrived at the store. There were three other people inside, and as he gathered the supplies he wanted to buy, a fourth came in. As Light walked to the counter, an unpleasant man cut in front of him, and he started to protest, until the man pulled a gun. The store suddenly went completely quiet.

"All right then, you'll be giving me everything in that cash register! Make it quick!"

He threatened the cashier, who began to comply.

"And any money in the back, too! If you don't, I'll shoot a customer!"

He waved his gun at Light and the four others.

"Make it quick!"

When the robber looked away from him, Light clenched his fists.

_I've been trained in self-defense, so-_

"Don't start anything. I can handle it."

Light started in surprise. The fourth person, a man in a trenchcoat, had grabbed his shoulder and was whispering in his ear.

"How do I know you're not working with him?"

The man was taken aback.

"It's standard procedure for criminals who take hostages," he whispered. "They have someone planted in the crowd to stop people from trying anything."

The man grimaced. "Well, I didn't want to, but I guess I don't have a choice..."

He pulled out an FBI badge, and showed it to Light.

_FBI!? Why would one of them be in Japan, much less the same store as-_

"Hey, you!"

_These people have to stop interrupting my train of thought._

"Don't try anything!" The robber pointed his gun at Light and the FBI agent. "I'll shoot you both if you don't step apart and show me that thing you're holding!"

Light gulped.  _If he sees that FBI badge, then he'll shoot us both anyway._

The robber stalked over to the agent.

"Now show me that thing!"

_What... what could I do!?_

Before Light could think any further, the cashier, who had grabbed a knife while the robber was distracted, ran around the counter and rushed the gunman. He tried to turn his gun to aim at the employee, but the cashier stabbed him before he could do anything else.

For a moment, there was a stunned silence as the criminal slumped to the ground. Then, one of the other customers called the police, who, upon arrival, confirmed that the robber was dead. The agent approached Light.

"Hey, um, if you could avoid mentioning me to anyone, I would appreciate that. My investigation is top secret, even from the police."

Light nodded.

"All right. I won't tell anyone."

"Okay then." The FBI agent left, leaving Light to think.

_An FBI agent, in Japan, whose mission is secret from even the police-it seems like it can't be a coincidence, but I'm sure it is; not everything can be related to the Kira case, after all. Still, a criminal died-but it wasn't from a heart attack, because he was stabbed to death. If he had a heart attack right before he was stabbed, maybe, but there isn't any evidence that Kira can control the circumstances of someone's death, only the time. I'm definitely overthinking this._

He decided to put it out of his mind for the time being.

* * *

Days passed. Light felt like he was on some kind of badly designed roller coaster, where it took a long time for anything to get anywhere, and then there was a rush of excitement, and then the coaster had to be pulled up yet another slope. This slope seemed to be more gradual than usual, with Kira doing nothing exciting, and showing no possibility that they could control the method or circumstances of death.

_I feel like I'm missing something... I used to see patterns in Kira's murders, but I'm letting them all blur together! If I keep that up, I'll never be able to catch them, or worse, L will catch them first._

He chuckled to himself.  _I guess that really is how I feel. For anyone else, it would be idiotic to think of losing to such a legendary detective as a humiliating defeat, but I know I'm capable of finding Kira before they do!_

 "Hey, Light?"

There was a knock on his door, and he heard his father's voice.

_Dad never disturbs me... that means this is pretty important._

He walked to the dinner table, where his mother and Sayu were already seated.

"What's going on, Dad?"

"Are we going on a New Year's vacation?" Sayu piped in.

_New Year's, huh? I've been losing track of time._

"...No."

Soichiro Yagami looked grim.

"There isn't any point in hiding it, since you'll find out anyway."

_Hiding what? Oh, that's right, he hasn't actually told us he's on the Kira case; I figured it out on my own._

"I'm in charge of the task force investigating Kira."

"That's amazing, Dad! I knew you were awesome, but this is so cool!" Sayu couldn't help herself.

_Maybe you should be a little bit less excited that Dad's life is in danger, given what happened to Lind. L. Tailor, but you probably didn't even think of that._

Sachiko Yagami looked appropriately concerned.

"Kira targeted the man they thought was L, remember. They're sure to go after anyone they know is investigating them, so this news isn't anything to be excited about, Sayu."

"Speaking of which." Soichiro had been in a gloomy mood ever since a day or so after L's broadcast, but now he was slumped more with exhaustion and frustration than Light had ever seen him before.

 "Twelve FBI agents were sent to Japan, to find Kira. And yesterday, all twelve were found dead."

_That agent! He was connected to the Kira case after all!_

 "Then, did Kira kill them!?"

 "We believe so."

There was silence at the table.

Soichiro looked up at his family. "We already knew that all investigating Kira were at risk, but... now it's plain that they are actively hunting those trying to catch them."

 "A lot of detectives are quitting the case. Morale is lower than I've ever seen it."

There was another brief pause, before both Sachiko and Sayu spoke up at once.

"Then you have to quit too, Dad! It's not worth being killed over!"

"Please, leave the police. Your life is much more important than your career."

"..."

Sayu stared desperately at her father.

"You're not going to, are you?" 

  _I agree with Mom and Sayu, but Dad values justice above all else. He will never quit when there is a criminal in his sights, and in his position, I would do the same. I **am** doing the same._

"...No, Light, I'm not. I am going to see this case through to the end. No matter what. I will  _not_ succumb to evil."

"Then I'm proud of you, Dad. But..."

Light stood up, and bile began to rise in his throat. This was his father, the man he had always admired, risking his life, blindly following L out of stubbornness.

_No, not stubbornness. Righteousness._

"I swear... That if you die, if Kira kills you, then I  **will** hunt them down. I  **will** catch them. And I will  **make certain** that they get the death penalty."

It was more emotion than he had put into... anything. His whole life, he had never been challenged, never been threatened, and now his father was out, in the line of fire.

_I swear that I will catch Kira before they can harm anyone I love._

"Light..."

His family was looking at him, stunned. Sayu was just surprised. His mother was afraid. His father was both, but there was also pride in his eyes.

"I'll make sure it won't come to that, then."

With that last statement from his father, Light went to his room, turned on the TV, and researched Kira harder than he ever had before. 

* * *

_Since I've probably worried my parents with my announcement that I would catch Kira if Dad died, they might suspect that I'm investigating the killings, and look in my room. If they find the information I've gathered, they would almost certainly insist that I stop. However, if I have enough new information, Dad might tell L, and L could insist I share all of the information I've gathered. They might insist I join the official investigation, or that I stop working on it completely, but what's certain is that it would all be over._

_I'll hide my notes on the deaths thoroughly, but I also want to know whether they've searched my room, even if they don't find the notes. So, if I put a piece of paper between the door and the frame, it'll fall down when I open the door unless it's been opened by someone else. Of course, they could go in for innocuous reasons, and if Dad searched my room, then he would see the paper and replace it._

_Thus, I'll always pull the handle down slightly after leaving my room, as it only goes all the way up if I open the door, and push it up every time I go back in. This way, if my room is searched in secret, then the door handle will be up... but the paper will still be there._

He remembered that it was New Year's Eve.

_I guess the police don't know the meaning of vacation, heh..._

_The police don't know..._

_Wait a second._

_That FBI agent wanted to be kept secret from the police. When they were investigating, the police didn't know. Why would an FBI investigation of Kira be kept secret?_

_If it targeted the police, of course. An investigation of the police would have to be a secret, or it would severely damage their trust of L, who has to be in charge of any operations concerning Kira._

_And as for the reason L would suspect the police... Hmm._

He mulled it over a bit. Was there any reason to suspect the police? Kira's schedule didn't fit with that of a hard-working cop; in fact, L was convinced Kira...

_L thinks Kira is a student. They weren't investigating the police, they were investigating the police's families!_

_Kira's schedule, their intelligence, and..._

He recalled that his father had told his family that his superior suspected the culprit was a student... on the same day Kira changed their schedule.

_Kira has information on the investigation's progress, and they killed once an hour to make L suspect the police! That FBI agent was investigating me!_

_The death of the FBI agents means the police know now that L was prying into their lives, and the fact that they were killed will only make L more suspicious of the police... no, of us, their families._

_I've even been investigating L, and they've been investigating me... Everybody trying to discover Kira's identity has been turning against each other._

_We're all playing right into Kira's hands!_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So no, the twist of this story is not that it tells the story from Yotsuba Light's amnesiac version of events. In canon, Light actually did test the Death Note by having a criminal rob a store and get stabbed by an employee, so that version of the Ray Penber scene wasn't completely out of the blue. And soon enough, instead of just plugging in an innocent Light to draw conclusions about events from canon, I'll start having to work out the deductive processes and strategies of Light, L, AND Kira. Canon divergence is happening! And yes, Kira's identity is already set; I'm not making it up as I go (well, not all of of it). That bit, at least, was planned from the start.


	4. Suspect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Light learns what it means to be suspected by L.

Light hadn't really been expecting his room to be entered secretly, so when he pushed up the door handle, he was surprised when it didn't move, and when he opened the door, and saw the paper fluttering down, he was filled with both shock and dismay.

_When Dad gets home, he'll definitely ask me to stop investigating Kira._

He went inside, and was surprised to find his room  _exactly_ as he had left it. He expected that if his parents had gone rooting around, then things would be disorganized, or at least the potato chip bag on the floor would have been picked up and thrown away. He sat down at his desk, and looked in its top drawer. The book he kept there wasn't an inch out of place. Then, he lifted the false bottom just a bit, so he could see if his Kira notes had been disturbed. They were completely untouched. Light was about to let out a sigh of relief when he realized that it really wasn't like his parents to search his room at all, much less leave everything looking completely untouched.

As he thought about what else could have happened, his blood ran cold.

_L had FBI agents investigating police officers' families. Then they all died. That means Kira found out about them, despite even the police not knowing, and was able to find and kill all of them, essentially proving that Kira was someone being investigated by those agents. Only a little bit of logic would be needed to narrow down the number of people being investigated who might be Kira, and I haven't discovered anything about them that would make it impossible to be Kira if I had the power to kill like they do._

_L, or someone working for them, was the most likely to have been in my room. But my desk drawers were barely touched. That means it wasn't a search, so they must have put in surveillance equipment._

Hoping and yet dreading to confirm his suspicion, he stood up and walked to the empty bag of chips. He picked it up and, while he was walking to the trash, looked at two corners of the ceiling, the top shelf of his bookshelf, and the air vent on the wall. There was nothing in one corner, although there was a bit of a glint in the other. The bookshelf didn't have anything, and he could see nothing through the vent, even if there was something. When he turned around to go back to his desk, he looked just a little bit harder in that corner, and...

_There is definitely a camera watching me tucked into that corner._

_I can't research the Kira case, because L would find out and make me turn over what I have. Furthermore, if I watch the news all day, then the suspicion against me could increase dramatically if L has figured out that Kira gets some of their victims from the news, which even an ordinary inspector would know by now. If I behave like I used to before Kira showed up, then if a criminal dies between when they show up on the news and I next watch the news, and I've been busy the whole time, then L will know for a fact that I am not Kira, and leave me alone._

With nothing to do about Kira but think, Light thought.

_What do I really know about Kira? They have an early job or school, they're smart enough and confident enough to play L and the police against each other, and it takes them at least a little while to kill, which they can extend as much as they want up to at least a day. They are a single human, working alone, and they cannot kill anyone they don't have some information about._

_The limitations are a bit vague. What information, exactly, does Kira need, in order to kill? Their face, maybe?_

He kept it in his mind as a possibility.

_So how might they kill? Since striking people down from any distance without any trace is beyond anything humans have yet devised, I can't limit it to common sense. Maybe the delay is intrinsic to the method of killing? Something like an incantation or an intricate diagram. Except I would imagine that as time went on, Kira would be able to do something like that faster with practice. So maybe in order for it to work, Kira has to do it at a certain speed, or maybe it just takes time to take effect._

_So, how would something like that be limited to those Kira has seen, or knows something else about? If all they have to do is think of the person as they performed it, wouldn't L already be dead already, and how could it control the time of death and mathematically randomize it like it has been? Whatever Kira does to kill, the details of the time of death and the person they want to kill are probably entered as part of the process, like writing them somewhere, or speaking the person's name and, if Kira wants to delay the death, the time they want it to happen._

_Furthermore, since even during Kira's schedule, criminals died during the day, the process must be fairly inconspicuous, which means it's not an incantation, or they would have been caught babbling about the criminals who were about to die by co-workers or students. So, maybe Kira draws their face, or writes their name? It can't be just the name if there's no mental component, though, or everyone with the same name would die at once._

_Or it could be only thinking, but it takes one minute after they think about a person for the person to die. Still, that would be too easy to do by accident, so there is guaranteed to be some physical action involved, even if it's just a hand gesture. And most likely, the action has to relate to the person who will die, although I can't really know for sure what information is reported about criminals Kira kills without writing down details for every criminal on TV, and I haven't been doing that._

_I can't do it now, either, because of L, so I guess acting on any of this conjecture will have to wait until they stop watching me. Dad definitely knows about this, because he would insist on knowing about any further investigations of his family, and so he will have ensured it would only last so long. I can continue to confirm the presence of that camera discreetly every day until it's gone, so I'll know when I can resume the Kira case._

* * *

By dinner, Light was bored out of his mind, which had been going in circles with conjecture about Kira. He saw that the TV was on some pop idol, singing some brainless song.

"Sayu, can't you watch the news every once and a while?"

"Light! Ryuga Hideki is on! Who would want to watch the news!?"

Both Light and his mother rolled their eyes.

_I really would. Just a little bit of information is all I want, just for something new, even if I couldn't learn anything from it. I don't know how long I can take this._

Just then, a news banner appeared on the screen.

**Interpol to send total of 1,500 detectives from various countries to Japan to help solve Kira case**

 "That many!? Wow..." Sayu was amazed enough to leave her mouth hanging wide open.

"That's incredibly stupid."

_L is probably watching, and has certainly researched me, so pretending not to analyze everything like I do, or any other kind of untruth that isn't to protect my investigation, could only slow down the process of L realizing that I'm innocent. The more he learns, the better._

"Since Kira killed those FBI agents, they're definitely able to figure out the identities of even top secret investigators. That means they could slaughter anyone who was announced to be looking for them. Sending those detectives is tantamount to murdering them."

"But Light, L is still fine," his mother said with a frown. "Kira has limits."

"Yes, but L isn't doing this in person. The FBI agents almost certainly died because they were close enough to Kira to be found, but L probably isn't even in Japan, and is working through intermediaries. In fact, this broadcast is probably a lie by L, to make Kira look where nothing is to be found, and panic."

_Also, it probably wasn't to anywhere but this TV and maybe a few others. This fake broadcast and L's cameras are no coincidence, and they've used similar tactics in the past. Of course, even if I didn't realize that this is fake, I wouldn't have any reason to act on it, but if I was fooled, that would be out of character for me, and thus far more suspicious._

_Since Kira was able to find those agents and play L and any policemen or people like me against each other, they've also figured out that this broadcast is fake._

_I hadn't considered it seriously before, but even though I solved Kira's schedule on my own, and thus the 49-hour trick was out of realization that anyone with a brain knew when they were busy, the fact that the FBI agents were killed means Kira really is connected to the police, because otherwise, they would be no threat, and Kira couldn't have found out they existed. Which means it's likely that Kira also saw this broadcast, as they are going to be another of L's suspects._

_This means that L... has information I don't. They have the vital clues given by the reaction of each suspect to the broadcast, which I would trade half my life to have the footage of. Or probably wouldn't, since I feel like Kira's method of killing is going to be the key to solving this case, while, L expressed disinterest in that angle. They might have been lying, but I doubt that it would seem important, or knowable at all, to someone who hasn't gotten their information firsthand, observing the news and it role in the time of death, cluing them into the delay._

"I'm done."

Light had indeed finished his dinner while deep in thought, although he couldn't now remember what it was that he ate. As he walked to his room, he grabbed a bag of potato chips without looking at the flavor.

"Liiiiiight! You know sour cream and onion is my favorite!"

_Right now, not knowing anything is making me upset, so to relieve my stress, I'll take a bag of chips... and eat it!_

* * *

On day three of surveillance, Light could barely stand the return of the boredom from before Kira showed up.

_I wish Kira would find L and kill them, just to get them out of my hair. Who would have thought my greatest threat on this case would be literally the only other person who might be able to catch Kira?_

_Although I have to take my evaluation of L's intelligence up a few notches for taking thorough action to investigate everyone who looks like a plausible Kira, they're not earning any points with me for managing to be annoying without even being in the same country._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_I can't take this! I need data! I need to do something interesting again!_

He pictured L as a creepy old man, with a long, crooked nose and an evil smile, and little puppet strings leading back to the word  **Kira.**

_Every second I'm cooped up in here doing nothing, L is getting more information, Kira is killing more criminals, and I'm getting behind! I'm losing to a criminal who broadcasts their schedule to the world and a detective who would look for a sword when investigating the murder of someone with a bullet wound!_

* * *

Day 5, Light went outside and thought about what he could do to learn about Kira. Any data on the FBI agents would be classified, and even if he could remember the name of the agent who showed him his badge (he was fairly certain he hadn't read it in the first place), any line of inquiry requiring knowledge of that agent's identity would draw more suspicion onto him, and give him nothing in return.

_Is there nothing..._

He bought a newspaper, and all the news it had on Kira was a list of the names of the criminals they killed the previous day. Ryuga Hideki had an article taking up half a page, and Kira got a tiny little corner.

_So shortsighted. Kira's capture will be the greatest feat of criminal justice in history, and they care more about a singer who will be unpopular and probably in jail in four years._

He took grim amusement in the idea of Kira killing Ryuga Hideki, and smiled vindictively when L went completely unmentioned.

_That those thoughts would be the highlight of my day is extremely depressing._

* * *

Day 7, the camera was gone, and after checking around his room a little bit less carefully than he had at first, Light confirmed that there were no devices watching him unless they were in very sneaky places. He considered the possibility of one or two cameras being left in the most difficult to see spots, but the image of his father shouting at his mental picture of L while shaking him by the shoulders was reassuring enough that he knew he was safe.

Light watched the news for the first time in what felt like forever, because although he had turned it on occasionally, because it would be incredibly suspicious and seem like he was making a point of saying that he knew L was watching, he hadn't been able to take any notes on the deaths.

He began writing down what information was given, and sure enough, over the next week, the criminals whose names or faces were not reported took longer to die. Kira must have looked into them on their own, since they eventually did die, which Light found fascinating, but it was proof as conclusive as could be obtained about Kira that they needed both a name and a face to kill.

_Kira has a physical process that they must perform, knowing and most likely physically signaling both the name and the face of their victim, but which can be varied to change the time of death either randomly or very precisely, as demonstrated by the new, randomized schedule, in order to kill._

_Which still leaves me with a lot of questions, but the possibilities keep getting narrower. I'll find another new clue to who Kira might be soon, perhaps during a holiday or a period of time when they're incapacitated, and it's only a matter of time before it's me who has a face and a name for my target._

* * *

Light had been so busy thinking about Kira that he barely registered that his college entrance exam was coming until it arrived. He had studied, of course, and far more than he'd needed to due to the time he was unable to research Kira, but it had been so little effort that it completely took backstage, and he expected the exam to be the same.

_Easy... easy... this is too easy. If Kira wrote these questions, now that would be interesting._

The more creative part of his mind went strange places when he was bored and the analytical part was somewhat occupied.

_The choice for over half of the math answers up to this point to end in seven would mean Kira believes themself to be far more capable of throwing off the scent and emulating randomness than they really are, meaning that I can't even imagine them writing these questions anymore, since they're good enough to make L and the police work against each other._

His imagination gave up on making a test designed to weed out people a tenth as intelligent as him seem interesting, and although he noticed a proctor chastising someone who looked like a cross between a hobo, a panda, and an owl for doing something he could only describe as perching, he dismissed it and finished the rest with no stimulation of his mental faculties whatsoever.

* * *

When the results came in, as expected, he had made a perfect score.

What was not expected was that, as he found out when he was called up as one of two class representatives, Hobo Panda Owl had also done so.

He walked to the stage, and the other followed, making a valiant effort to stand up straight.

The announcer stated that they would give the freshman address, and said that Light's pupil's name was Ryuga Hideki.

_This is ironic. They're complete opposites; the idol can look good, but not think, and Hobo Panda Owl can think, but couldn't even be presentable without serious help._

Light gave a bland speech with stirring rhetoric that he was sure would convince the masses they could do whatever they put their minds to, but would be forgotten before the end of the week.

Hobo Panda Owl's speech was about sweets, when to eat them to maximize the mental boost they give you, and how to avoid having sugar crashes at the wrong times. He explained that chocolate was good for eating while planning, while pastries are far more effective for dealing with other people, and pure sugar is to be saved only for periods of intense calculation.

No one clapped at the end of his speech; they were too surprised and confused about its odd contents.

As they walked back to their seats, Hobo Panda Owl approached Light from behind.

"Light Yagami."

_What does he want?_

"You're the son of Detective-Superintendent Soichiro Yagami, of the NPA. Your respect for your father is matched only by your sense for justice, and you aim to become a detective later in life."

_How does he know this?_

He didn't have time to think further before Hobo Panda Owl continued. "In the past, you have helped your father solve cases he could not have on his own. Furthermore, you have a great deal of interest in the Kira case."

This was alarming.

_Even Dad doesn't know I'm interested in Kira. This person must be extremely intelligent, and has investigated me, making him either Kira, in which case he's showing off and I'm as good as dead, or..._

"Thus, I will tell you something that is incredibly important to the Kira case, and depend on your sense of justice and loyalty to your father to conclude you will tell no one what I am about to tell you."

He leaned in, speaking into Light's ear.

**I am L.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, L. And I would like to confirm that Light bashing him is just Light's arrogance speaking, and not actually any grudge I have against L(L is amazing, and I'm so happy I've finally gotten to the point where he appears). I originally planned for Light to encounter Naomi Misora, only for her to walk off suddenly(and you know what happens next), but the odds, given the butterfly effect, were that either one of them would most likely have come sooner or later to the station than in canon, or never have come at all, and I realized that in this AU, she was dead before she arrived, because this Kira looked into the FBI agents, found out that Raye's fiancee was ex-FBI, and killed her just to be sure. So yes, scheming is going on behind the scenes already.
> 
> I actually looked up the diagram of where L put the cameras after I typed in Light's guesses for camera locations, and I'm a bit disappointed with how they were in obvious enough spots that I could successfully name three locations on my first try. However, the bookcase right behind Light when he's at his desk has no cameras, and the air conditioning would obviously be too hard to look into with a glance.
> 
> Finally, a bit of headcanon; although Sachiko Yagami can't really hold a strong role in this story, I'm convinced that she's at least as intelligent as Soichiro(who, remember, is a top detective, despite his lack of scheming), because otherwise Light simply couldn't be as smart as he is. So although she doesn't speak up a lot, if she ever talks again, don't be surprised if it's unusually observant.


	5. Pillars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> L and Light's mind games begin.

**I am L.**

Light was stunned. He lost awareness of the rest of his steps back to his seat as he tried to process the strange person's statement.

_The appearance... makes perfect sense. L obviously isn't normal in any sense of the word; an eccentric genius isn't going to seem like everyone else. But, why reveal himself so soon after watching every move I make, suspecting me of being Kira? Wouldn't showing his face be incredibly stupid? Of course, Ryuga Hideki can't be his real name, but..._

_I have to do something. I'll look like an idiot in front of the greatest detective in the world if I just sit and gape._

"Then you have my full respect and attention...  _if_ you're L."

"Thanks... I thought you could help with the Kira case."

_He seems a bit awkward... I guess he hasn't eaten any cake recently enough. And a treatise on the relative merits of various desserts for mental capacity is exactly the kind of speech a world-famous detective would give, if he's really that quirky. I'm fairly certain that this is, in fact, L. The same L who investigated the police's families and bugged my room, because he suspects me of being Kira._

_And as for why he would show his face, it's because if he died right after claiming to be L, I would be arrested as Kira, and if I were Kira, I would know that and not kill him. In other words, showing his face... is the very best way to protect his life that there is. Except, of course, that it's a complete waste on someone who isn't Kira._

_And also, the obviously fake name. He's assuming Kira's power is mental, and so if Ryuga Hideki died, I would definitely be Kira, since it would be easy in that case to slip up and target the right name, but the wrong face._

_That means that he definitely is putting thought into how Kira kills. He's figured out that Kira needs a name and a face, and he's putting a name attached to a different face out as bait, just on the off chance of Kira slipping up. Maybe he was amused by the idea of Kira killing Ryuga Hideki just as much as I was, and made it feature in his plan, just for fun._

Light and L left the auditorium once the ceremony was finished.

"Light-Kun..."

_Wait... usually, that would be at least somewhat polite. But it's like he's mocking me with a subtle undertone of the address, and it's grating on my nerves._

"Yes, Hideki?"

"It was nice meeting you..."

"It was nice meeting you, too."

_It was... You're much more intelligent than I could have imagined, and you haven't even started trying to get information from me directly. You, Kira, and I make for a very interesting game. A game I will win, no matter how much you subvert my expectations._

L smiled at him. "I'll be catching you later on campus."

"Yeah, I'll see you around."

_Catch me, huh..._

To no surprise from Light, L walked to a fancy black car that had been driven right up to the curb in front of the auditorium. He got in, and with a final, confident smile at Light to communicate just how certain he was that the "catch you" line was foreshadowing for an arrest, was driven off.

_So that was L. With just a few words, he spun a web from which Kira would find impossible to escape, and which has even hindered me, a bit. And he wants me to help him with the investigation-obviously a transparent ruse through which to investigate my likelihood of being Kira, watching closely to see if I ever slip up. However..._

He smiled. Not a happy smile, or a childish one, or even a sinister one, but a confident one, and a proud one, an honest expression of his belief that he could win the battle he had been fighting for weeks, now.

_Because L is letting me on to his investigation, that means I'll have access to everything he's found out or will find out about Kira. Even if I help him, we'll be progressing at the same rate. But, if I investigate Kira on my own time as well, I'll get further ahead of L every day, making it impossible for him to catch Kira first. By joining L's team, I'll beat him by doing **exactly what he says he wants me to!**_

_L, you lose, right here and right now, as a result of this clever little trap you're so proud of. I'll be completely useful and obedient, as helpful as I can, not doing anything wrong or suspicious, and you'll be scratching your head, hating me for being on your side. If Kira looks into us, I'm not even registered as being affiliated with the police, and so they'll find no trace of my involvement, making L the higher profile and more obvious target._

_If Kira kills L, which they would do before even learning about me, then they'll let their guard down, expecting to be home free. They'll risk everything to kill L, their supposed greatest threat, assuming no one would be smart enough to pin them down from the details of the murder, but from now on, L is nothing but my puppet! If L dies, I will catch Kira. If Kira is caught, it will be by me!_

_L, you've handed me my victory on a silver platter._

* * *

"So Ryuga, when you asked for a friendly game of tennis to get to know each other better, did you know how good I am?"

_You know exactly how many games I've played, and that I won every last one, because you researched me thoroughly. Although your suspicion is mistaken, L, I have to admire that you go all the way, and it makes me glad to have you working for me now._

"Don't worry, Light-Kun. I used to be the British junior champion."

_That's definitely a trap, to see if I look into British junior champions for your name, meaning that you were using an alias at the time, or you wouldn't have mentioned it._

"So you're from England?"

"I lived there for about five years. But don't worry about it; it's impossible to learn L's identity from that fact."

_Third person, to suggest that you might not be L, and to keep me on my toes... it's amusing to watch all this wasted effort that would no doubt be extremely effective if I were actually Kira go to waste._

"So, first to six wins is the winner?" L looked directly at Light, with seemingly dull, unfocused eyes that thinly masked a sudden fiery determination.

_L... are you doing this to profile me, and see if I'm Kira, or to pit yourself against me, already seeing that I am your rival?_

_Of course, even if you had known from the first word I spoke to you, it would have been too late. I've already beaten you, and now everything you do to try and beat me can only get me closer to our officially mutual goal of catching Kira._

"Sure. It's been a while since I've played, though."

"The same goes for me. I suppose we'll be warming up against each other."

Once they were at the tennis court, and positioned themselves, L threw the ball up in the air to serve, and smacked it hard enough to rocket past Light before he was ready.

"Hey, what happened to warming up?"

"He who moves first always wins."

_L is challenging me directly... does he sense what I'm thinking, does he only want me to think I've as good as won? But for that to be true, he would have to know I'm not Kira, in which case he wouldn't have revealed himself to me at all, instead contacting me through Dad, even if he still wanted me on his investigation._

_No matter what, though, I won't lose-not to Kira, not to L, not to anyone!_

They continued to play, each giving his all, and by the time they were at four wins each, a crowd had gathered, and a referee had set up by the court.

_L wasn't lying about being that good, and I was the junior high champion two years in a row. It seems the other students are impressed with our skills, even as rusty as one would expect us to be._

Grinning, Light hit the ball back each time with every ounce of his determination to defeat L in every way he could.

_To normal people, a tennis game wouldn't be a way to get to know each other, but I can see that L will at the very least use this to say that we're friends now. He'll try to catch me out as Kira by casually bringing up things he believes only Kira could respond correctly to._

_This will put me in a certain amount of danger, as my secret investigation of Kira gives me more knowledge than L thinks I should have. Still, though, losing too much suspicion could cause L to simply explain that he now knows I'm not Kira, admit that he never wanted me on the task force, and leave, without me gaining anything._

_So, I have to remain a suspect, at least until I'm taken to the headquarters of the task force and shown to Dad and any others as a new member. The best way to get there and keep enough suspicion on myself is to ask to go, to confirm for sure that he's L, since that's exactly what Kira would do, and it will solidify my position to use L._

_However, he is going to try and bring up Kira as soon as we finish the match. If he's learned anything I haven't, from police information withheld from the media or a precise, computerized analysis of every bit of important data, he will use that data to force me to, since I'm not Kira, reveal my complete ignorance of some detail. Then, all suspicion will be lifted, and there will be no need to invite me into the investigation._

_I have to go to HQ before my innocence can be entirely confirmed. In other words... just as L said, whoever makes the first move wins._

It was 5-5, and the ball was whizzing through the air at an incredible speed, until with one mighty swing, Light hit it right past L's guard, ending the match in his favor.

"...You beat me, Light-Kun..."

Sweat was running down L's face, just as it was probably running down Light's.

"It was a good game, Ryuga. By the way, since we're both thirsty, and there's something I want to ask you, how about getting a drink somewhere?"

"Well, you beat me, so you can ask me anything you want. But, before me ask me anything, there's something I should tell you..."

L leaned in confidentially again, just like he had when saying he was L. "Light-Kun, the fact is... I suspect you might be Kira. If you still want to ask me your question, keeping that in mind, go right ahead."

_Well played... you can use this to test me on my knowledge of Kira before letting me see HQ. And unlike easy school tests, if I get a perfect score on this one, I'll either be proven innocent and rejected from the investigation, or be forced to give up my independent investigation to prove I'm not Kira. Either way, if I don't answer incorrectly in just the right way, I lose the advantage I thought was already guaranteed._

"Why would you think I'm Kira?"

"I'm sure you can already guess. Even if you've only been passively hearing about Kira, you've heard enough and watched enough of the news to know that nearly all the deaths have happened on your schedule, and although this might be news to you, the FBI agents your father doubtless told you were killed were investigating the families of police, including you."

L continued. "Now, when I say "suspect," I was only talking about a factor of one percent. However, I'd say that your claim to ignorance, given your ability to connect the dots, raises it by one percent."

_Excellent. Now I have room to lose suspicion. Of course, I'm sure you're lying about it only having been one percent, because given the information I have on Kira, I would say I'm a prime suspect if I didn't know for a fact that I am innocent._

"What I'm trying to accomplish is to reduce my suspicion of you to 0%, and to become 100% sure your deductive capabilities are great enough to help the investigation before I let you into the task force."

_This isn't good. If I do too well, suspicion against me increases, and L might bar me from the investigation or even arrest me. If I do even a little bit too poorly, however, and he comes to believe I am not Kira, he says it is a lack of deductive capabilities, and doesn't even have to back down on what he said earlier. Either way, it's only a pretext to gain an advantage._

_I was completely wrong. L is playing me like a fiddle, anticipating everything I might do, and making sure that no matter what happens, I gain nothing._

At this point, Light realized that his life wasn't easy anymore. By challenging L and Kira, he ended up face to face with an equal. He had always been standing on a high pillar, protected from the problems of ordinary people and looking down upon them.

But now, there was another pillar, with L standing on top, right in front of his own. He couldn't predict what L would do, or why, and yet L was capable of seeing through every word he spoke, luring him in with the promise of control, and then closing the trap around him.

And on another pillar, shrouded from view, was Kira, looking on, taunting L. Was Kira able to predict L, and control him? Or was L going to be as badly underestimated by Kira as he was by Light?

_No matter what, I can't lose now. Not even to the greatest detective in the world. I'll show him, and I'll show Kira, that I'm just as smart as them!_


	6. Testing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> L tests Light.

The two rivals sat at a table in a nearby coffee shop.

"Well chosen. If we sit here, no one can hear what we talk about."

L had his feet on the edge of the table in front of him, toes sticking into the air.

"Sitting here, no one will see the way you're sitting, at least." Light smiled as he lightly teased L's posture, to see how the detective would react.

"That is true. I just can't sit any other way than this. If I sit the way other people do, my reasoning ability drops by forty percent."

L paused. "Light-Kun, what was it you wanted to ask me?"

"The fact is, I wanted to meet others on the task force, to make sure you're really L, and not a crackpot impostor or even Kira yourself. However, your concern about me means that can't happen until you're certain I am both an asset and not suspicious, so I think that should come first."

"You have exactly followed my own reasoning."

_More closely than you think._

"Thus, I will now test your reasoning abilities."

_And the correct answers will be based on knowledge I shouldn't have. However, you've left me an out with the fine details of your trap; if I prove my deductive capabilities without demonstrating special knowledge, then you'll have no choice but to let me join, even though you probably intend for that to be impossible._

_Thus, I have to spot exactly how each trap is meant to catch Kira, answer it without gaining suspicion, and then explain L's own logic back to him, and his pride, which I saw in the tennis match, will both make sure he is impressed that I traced his thought process and prevent him from going back on his word that if I demonstrate deductive capabilities, he will invite me to the investigation._

"What does the fact that I've told you I'm L tell you?"

"There are two possibilities: That you are L and that you aren't. However, I've already concluded that either you must be the real L, or you're Kira, and I'm in completely over my head, because I can't see Kira doing this, or any logic in doing so. Thus, since this is a test of reasoning ability, I'll assume that all motivations are comprehensible, making you the real L."

"Since you're L, you would only reveal yourself if you were both completely safe and gained an advantage in doing so. Thus, you're sure that Kira kills based on something more than appearance, which is all you've revealed for certain. The most conspicuous thing you've done is claim the name Ryuga Hideki, which is obviously fake, meaning that the conclusion you've drawn is that Kira needs a name to kill."

"Since you also need to gain something by revealing yourself, the choice of Ryuga Hideki rather than another fake name is strategic. You're convinced that Kira's method of killing is mental, and that they would try to kill you if you showed yourself, but they would think of the real Ryuga whenever they thought of your fake name, accidentally killing the pop idol instead of you. Thus, if Ryuga Hideki had died of a heart attack after you told me you were L, I would be Kira."

"However, there's one additional thing I can deduce about you through this fact. Since you depended on Kira making a mistake for fruit to come from that fake name, you believe Kira's method of killing is mental, and not some ritual or incantation. However, in your broadcast, you said you didn't care about how Kira kills. This means you're perfectly willing to lie your face off to catch Kira."

L smiled. "Well done. My confidence in your deductive abilities is now thirty percent, but that you attempted to draw a conclusion about me raises my suspicion that you are Kira to three percent."

_You smug little... You know by now that I know that you're lying about my Kira percentage, and no doubt there are three questions, meaning that the greatest deductive percent I can get is 90, preventing you from having any reason for even pretending past this conversation that you want me on your team._

"So what's the next test?"

"Since this is essentially a job interview for the investigation, it would be rude of me to not show you anything from our end. What can you deduce from this document detailing the times each of these agents were killed by Kira, as well as the time the file was sent?"

L slid a piece of paper, a chart with five columns. The first column listed twelve names. The second column consisted of the numbers 1-12, and seemed to represent the order of twelve times, labeled "File." The fourth column was a list of numbers ordering another list of times, these labeled "death."

_As L is using these questions to test whether I am Kira, there must be something about it that only Kira would understand. Either the nature of the file or the identities of the recipient or recipients is most likely meant to catch me, but if I ask about either, L will probably deduct from my reasoning percentage._

Light thought about it. "Due to the fact that these questions are meant to test whether I am Kira, this paper must have context that only Kira could know in order to understand it. My first instinct with the files is to say that each contained the name of the person who it is attached to, and that the time attached to each file is the time it was sent to someone. However, it is obvious that this is not true."

He pointed to one specific name, Toors Denote. "This person's death, the first to occur, was two minutes after the file being sent. The rest, on the other hand, died seemingly randomly and independently of the time their files were sent. If Kira was responsible for both their deaths and the sending of their files, they wanted to hide any correlation between the times, while not caring whether it was obvious that the deaths and files were connected."

"This leaves us with three questions: What was in the files, who received the files, and why did Kira want to hide the connection between specific files and deaths? The fact that only two file events occurred after the first death, and that the end of the file times coincided so nicely with the beginning of the deaths, implies that each file was not, in fact, connected to only its own agent, but in fact to more than one of them. So, forgive me if this guess is wrong, but I am guessing that each of them received a file with the identities of the rest, Kira killed one of them to read the file, and then they killed the rest with the information within."

L leaned forward a bit. "Are you saying that you believe Denote, the first one to die, was the one Kira killed?"

"It seems likely, but because of that, I think that it's very unlikely. If Kira went through the effort to prevent a correlation between the times, they wouldn't leave such a clear clue. Of course, how they even knew about the files so soon after the agents received them is odd, so these might actually be two different days. Kira might have incapacitated one agent, taken their file, used it to kill others, and then killed them, or maybe one of the agents was working for Kira, who betrayed them."

L's eyes grew almost imperceptibly wider. "You're stretching."

A bead of sweat ran down Light's forehead.

"You are worried that I will reduce your percentage for deductive reasoning if you ask for details, but if you are Kira, you cannot provide those details yourself, or I will know immediately that you are guilty. Thus, you are reaching as far as you can to fill in those details with logic. I am now one hundred percent convinced that either you are Kira, or you have amazing deductive talents, because you got as far as you could have without inside information, and guessed a little bit more."

He took the paper back. "You most likely believe I never intended to allow you on board. However, it is exactly the opposite: Whether you are Kira or not, I want you on the investigation team. If you are Kira, I will be in a much better position to study you, and if not, your deductive mind might help us quite a bit."

_...What? This should be victory, but it's exactly what L wanted to happen. I thought I could follow his reasoning and tell his lies from the truth, but he lied when he said he had to be certain about me to let me on the team, because he wanted this chance to analyze me. I'm going to try and use him nonetheless, but I really need to be careful._

"...My confidence in your deductive abilities has risen by forty percent, L."

L smiled. "You're still underestimating me."

"Maybe you're underestimating me."

"You're never going to learn my name."

"I have no reason to want to. Are you ever going to explain the answer to your second puzzle?"

The intensity of both their stares declined, although neither one relaxed even a bit.

"If you are Kira, you avoided my real trap this whole time, Light. You see, it's been kept from the media, but lately, prisoners dying in jail have left me... messages."

He gave Light three pieces of paper. They appeared to be suicide notes, but the first words of every line formed a new sentence on each one.

**L, did you know?**

**Shinigami eat only apples.**

**And I will eat your soul.**

_What... what even is this? Could these be..._

"Are... Did these prisoners actually commit suicide?"

"No. Each of them died of a heart attack, at 8:00 AM exactly, on consecutive days."

"So Kira can control their victims."

He couldn't believe it. This changed everything. The robber in the store could have been controlled by Kira. Definitely  _was_ controlled by Kira, to make the agent reveal his badge. Kira had probably made multiple agents show their badges to suspects, then had one show it to them, so they could control that agent to get their hands on the file. The confusion and random order was to stop L from tracing which agent led Kira to the rest, because Kira would be among those that agent was investigating.

"Correct. And I'm sure that I no longer have to explain that file to you. Of course, if you had simply assumed Kira's power to control from the beginning, this conversation would be very different."

_What have I gotten myself into?_

At that moment, L's phone rang. He picked it up with two fingers and dangled it next to his ear.

"Hello?"

A pause.

"...Yes."

Another pause.

"A heart attack?"

Light's phone rang as well. He grabbed it hastily out of his pocket. It was his mother.

"Light, it's your father!"

"What? What happened!?"

"He collapsed..."

Light's blood ran cold. He looked at L.

"My father..."

L stared at him with sudden intensity. "The director of the NPA, and hundreds of police across Japan, have just died of heart attacks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've seen people liken comments to little presents, and it definitely applies. Share your thoughts, critiques, and theories, please!
> 
> Also, to avoid confusion for anyone who doesn't pay super close attention to every title, Soichiro is not the director of the NPA, he is a police chief. Is he dead? You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out.


End file.
